Title and Role...
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cial Workers are the link between the home, school and community in providing direct as well as indirect services to students, families and school personnel to promote and support students’ academic and social success.” (Who are school social workers?) Moving forward: In this pandemic, we know that there are increased mental health needs of students as evidenced in the national data showing a rise in emergency room visits and hospitalizations for behavioral health issues, and the demand for professional counseling services in and outside of school. The question is how to support all students. If a multitiered system of support (MTSS) is used, it seems tier one interventions for all students by school counselors in the classroom can quickly identify students requiring tier two and three services prior to crisis or hospitalization. There needs to be adequate numbers of school counseling staff in addition to those tier two and three interventions for the system to function with fidelity. As the tasks assigned to school counselors are considered, and those tasks still need to be completed, accurate data collection will guide districts to provide the appropriate types of professionals to meet their local needs. Please reference another article in this issue that discusses the School Counselor role and responsibilities for further discussion. Likely ESSER grants have been approved with resources already determined. However, school counselors are encouraged to discuss the foregoing with their colleagues and administrations to clarify roles and goals. School counselors are further encouraged to use the MASCA and ASCA resources to help collect and focus on what local data show that their district and schools need and use that information to support positions as we approach the start of the budget season for next school year.
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Taking a Listen by John S. Steere, Ed.D, Former MASCA Vice President-Secondary
on display for all of the Listening to anothworld to hear. Furtherer person tell their more, with the title of story is at the heart musing on the marque, of the what a school we wanted each listener counselor does on to pause and reflect on a daily basis. Nowwhat they are hearing adays, many peoand see if it informs ple are plugging air one’s daily practice pods or headsets about their practice as a into technological school counselor. devices and listening to a whole host Lastly, the main thing of new audio prothat this “MASCA MUSgramming from the ING” aims to do is to a very comical to the John Steere, celebrate of the work of very serious. Many the school counselors. of these audio formats share one School counseling at times can be at thing in common, they are essentially times a pretty thankless job, where people sharing their stories with any- it is the goal of this podcast to say, one who is willing to listen. we thank you school counselors and I love listening to people share their would love to hear your story! stories with me! It is one of the many Check out “MASCA MUSINGS” with skills that I have that I am actually Mindy Cripps and John Steere on pretty good at. So, when the opportu- Spotify or on the MASCA webpage nity through my work with the MAS- each month. CA Ethics Committee discussed an opportunity to produce a podcast. I jumped right on board! It also may have been that so many people in my past have told me that I have the perfect voice for radio. In this article, I hope to introduce you to the Massachusetts Association of School Counselor’s (MASCA) new podcast, “MASCA MUSINGS”. Each month, Mindy Cripps and I interview different members of the school counseling world about their backgrounds and how they incorporate the concepts of ethics and “doing what is right” into their daily practice. “MASCA MUSINGS” came from an idea about how best to reach school counselors in this ever changing technological landscape. However, since Mindy and I have no formal training in audio or video production, the format and plan for each episode is really simple. We ask the expert some simple questions and then listen to their story. It is basically putting the job of school counselor
January 2022 Awareness Dates Get Organized Month National Mentoring Month National Thank You Month
1 Emancipation Proclamation Anniversary 1 Global Family Day 17 World Religion Day 18-22 No Name-Calling Week 18 Martin Luther King, Jr., Day of Service COUNSELOR’S NOTEBOOK
